Home | Breaking | Monero ($XMR) Hard Forks To Add More Privacy Features

Monero ($XMR) Hard Forks To Add More Privacy Features

Table of Contents

Monero coin XMR in silver

Monero (XMR), one of the largest privacy-focused virtual currencies in the market has hard forked in order to become even more secure and private. This comes at a moment in which governments continue to add new AML and KYC regulations and attack privacy solutions such as Tornado Cash. The Monero community is focused on offering the best privacy solutions to users. 

Monero Hard Forks To Become More Private

On August 13, Monero performed a software upgrade that would allow it to offer better privacy solutions to XMR users. The hard fork took place at block 2,688,888 and it required the constant work of close to 70 developers for four months. 

One of the main solutions offered by Monero’s upgrade includes a better and enhanced multi-signature mechanism. This is a very important thing for Monero’s blockchain network as it would allow for more secure and private management of transactions that require multiple signatures to be processed. 

The goal was to simplify this multisig transaction mechanism by making it easy to exchange info (including key sets and sync data) between wallets. With this upgrade, there will be a “workflow support” that will guide users through the various steps. 

The documentation about Monero’s multisig reads as follows:

“Multisig means that a transaction needs multiple signatures before it can be submitted to the Monero network and executed. Instead of one Monero wallet creating, signing, and submitting transactions all on its own, you will have a whole group of wallets and collaboration between them to transact.”

One of the main benefits of this upgrade is the use of encryption and signatures. The message content is encrypted using Monero’s viewkeys of the signers’ Monero wallets or using randomly generated keys. Furthermore, the number of co-signers to approve ring signatures has also been increased to 16 from 11. This makes it possible for Monero transactions to become more private as it is more difficult to trace transactions taking place on top of this blockchain network. 

In addition to it, there was an improvement to the bulletproof algorithm. With the hard fork, Monero is now using a bulletproof+ implementation of a zero-knowledge proof algorithm. Thanks to this upgrade, it will be possible to hide the exact information of transactions (amounts). 

According to data shared by CoinGecko, Monero is now the 30th largest cryptocurrency in the market with a price of $166 and a market capitalization of $3.01 billion. 

Attack On Privacy

A few days ago, we have heard how a Tornado Cash developer was arrested in Amsterdam. The cryptocurrency community has already shown support to him. A week ago, US regulators sanctioned Tornado Cash and all the addresses that engaged with this privacy-focused solution. 

Tornado Cash allowed users to send coins and mix them in order to keep their privacy protected. Blockchain networks such as Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) are not private and are controlled by blockchain analysis firms. 

All the wallets that had contact with Tornado Cash are now banned to engage with other protocols and “decentralized finance” (DeFi) solutions. The cryptocurrency community will have to work very hard in order to fight against the current attack on privacy from governments all over the world. 

Additionally, it will be necessary to create better DeFi solutions that would not have the possibility to block users from engaging with these protocols. 

Table of Contents

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Hot Stories

🔑🔓⚡

Unlock the Power of Crypto!

Get the most important crypto news, price predictions, and expert insights delivered to your inbox.